I remember my senior year being totally scared while filling out multiple college applications. After doing so many, my thoughts were really racing. "How will I choose?" "Will I even get accepted?" "What if I don't get into the school I want?" These are very common scenarios for high school students when applying to colleges. In fact so many students are stressed during this time of their lives that researches from New York City conducted a study to explore the stress levels of high school students in competitive settings. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
The study's senior researcher, Noelle Leonard, stated that "We are concerned that students in these selective, high schools can get burned out even before they reach college." The research team launched their study in four different stages to assess student coping skills, academic engagement, family engagement, expectations, and mental health symptoms, and alcohol and drug use to discover what the leading cause of chronic stress was for today's youth. The study focused on schools in high competitive private schools.
First, the researchers interviewed 19 private school teachers, counselors, and administrators about how they have seen students stress and cope. They then analyzed 128 anonymous surveys from the students at the school that were in there junior year.
The results showed that 48% of students spent 3-4 hours a night completing homework. Girls were 40% more likely to finish the 3-4 hours of homework than boys were, resulting in higher GPA's. Besides their academic success, 49% of all students reported that they felt a great deal of stress on a daily basis, and 31% said they felt "somewhat" stressed. Grades, homework, and college prep were the three main factors of the student's stress levels. 26% of participants reported symptoms of depression at high levels.
The researches then reached out to 18 of the 128 students to get more information on their responses. Lastly, they sent their findings to eight private school experts ranging from psychologists, social workers, one teacher, and one private school graduate. The teacher responded saying, "I think that parental pressure on schools and students is real, parents are coming in and thinking, "I'm spending a lot of money and I need to get something, a very tangible something." A great education is not a tangible something; a diploma from Harvard, Princeton, or Yale... that's tangible."
According to the American Psychological Association, college and university counseling services an increase in the number of cries for help. It is true that a large percentage of high school students are attending colleges, it does not make up for the sharp rise in recent years. According to a 2013 national survey, college counseling services across the country, 32% have waiting lists because there are so many students seeking help that they can not fit them all in. Overall, students are stressed while filling out applications and still stressed far into the start of their college.
 |
| Photo Credit: static.wixstatic.com |
Works Cited: http://www.medicaldaily.com/high-school-students-are-stressed-out-about-college-admissions-reality-burning-out-347476
No comments:
Post a Comment